


Acting Out

by Input_Error, orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Drama Club, Alternate Universe - High School, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff and Angst, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Sexuality Crisis, Slow Burn, Teen and up because Keith swears like a sailor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-29
Updated: 2018-08-04
Packaged: 2019-06-18 08:11:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15481440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Input_Error/pseuds/Input_Error, https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: In which Shiro is a high school drama teacher who is desperate for new drama club members.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Obviously our paladins haven't been to space in this AU, so I imagine Shiro looking more like he did before the Kerberos mission. That means no white hair, scars or robot arm.  
> I'm pretty new to this whole writing fanfiction thing. Constructive criticism is always appreciated!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wooo A huge thanks to Input_Error for helping me put this story into coherent words!! I have a lot of ideas that I have trouble making into a story format, so their help is immensely appreciated!

Keith could tell from the quiet atmosphere of Shiro’s empty classroom that Shiro was mad. Usually there was music on or the sound of him humming. Since he was the drama teacher, a lot of students liked to stay back in his class and talk amongst each other about their theater projects. But there was no music and no kids. Everyone else must have sensed Shiro was in a bad mood as well.

“I just don’t know what to do with you, Keith,” Shiro sighed. The expression on his face was serious and it was clear he was disappointed in Keith. Not that that expression was particularly new. “This is your third fight this year, and we haven’t even made it halfway through October!”

Shiro didn’t even come around his desk to greet Keith like he usually would. Yep. He was really mad. Keith avoided eye contact with his older brother as he raised his voice. He’d already heard this lecture of Shiro’s. The last thing he needed was to be reminded for the hundredth time.

”As one of your teachers, I ought to write you up,” Shiro continued. “You should have been suspended after the first fight. I can’t keep letting you off with a warning just because I’m your brother, Keith. It’s bad enough that I’ve had to vouch for you to Principal Iverson three times. Next time, he’s not going to let me handle this. Keith, he already has had plans of expelling you.”

“I know,” Keith said, still staring at his feet. He hoped somewhere in the back of his mind that if he didn’t look at Shiro, he wouldn’t see the black eye Keith had received. It turned out that the freshman he’d been fighting was surprisingly strong. He could practically still feel the sting from the knuckles that cracked against his face.

“Let’s make a deal,” Shiro said, seeming to realize Keith wasn’t going to give him more than two-word answers. “You can either join the drama club and help with this year’s musical, or you can take the suspension,” Shiro offered. “We could use some males that can sing.”

“Wha-? Drama club? Hell no,” Keith said, backing away from the desk slightly. He knew it was a bad idea to try to reason with a drama teacher, let alone his brother. But Shiro expected him to sing? In front of people? If Keith even did it once, Shiro would never leave him alone again. It was better to shut him down now. “No way,” Keith said, a sense of finality to his voice.

”Well then, suspension it is. And watch your language,” Shiro said. He bent down below his desk, probably to grab the paperwork for the suspension. Keith was fine with being suspended. That was, until he realized it meant spending a lot of time at home with an incredibly disappointed Shiro. Something inside of Keith caved.

“Fine! I’ll do it,” Keith relented. “But don’t expect me to like it. I’m not some theatre nerd like you,” Keith huffed.

”Of course,” Shiro smiled, putting the suspension paperwork back under his desk. “We meet after school every other day. Once rehearsal for a production starts, we meet every day after class. Welcome to drama club, Keith! Although, I do wish it was under better circumstances. I hope you’ll find it nice.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “I’m only doing this because I have to. I’m not gonna stay after the musical is over.”

Shiro smiled his annoyingly calm smile again. “We’ll see about that. We might just make a theater kid out of you yet.”

Keith was already turning over his shoulder for the door. “Whatever. See you at home.”

”Don’t get in another fight on the way home!” Shiro called. It was half joking, but also half serious.

”Not planning on it,” Keith replied half heartedly. He was still very much in shock about how Shiro’s confrontation had gone. He’d totally expected a suspension. He couldn’t tell if their compromise was better or worse.


	2. The Drama Club

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first meeting of the drama club comes, but something about one of the members doesn’t sit right with Keith

When the final bell of the following school day rang, Keith could feel his stomach filling with dread. Today was the day. His first official drama club meeting. He packed up all of his belongings and made his way to the school auditorium as slow as he possibly could, dodging other students in the process. Upon arriving, he was met with a pitch black auditorium and a few murmuring voices.

“Pidge! Get the lights!” an unfamiliar voice yelled.

“I’m working on it!” Another voice, apparently belonging to the person named Pidge, yelled in response. In a matter of seconds, the auditorium was no longer dark. Keith squinted as his eyes adjusted to the brightness. When he was finally able to look around, Keith immediately felt out of place. There weren’t many people there, but everybody seemed to know each other. It seemed they had already found and formed friend groups of their own and Keith felt like an outsider looking in. He glanced around for a familiar face but ultimately saw no one he knew.

“Hello!” Keith jumped at the sudden presence of another person in front of him. “I’m Pidge, the stage manager. You must be Keith!” Keith couldn't help but be surprised that such a loud voice came from such a small person. Pidge looked to be a middle school student, despite Keith knowing that he'd seen Pidge in the hallways before.

“Oh er… yeah,” Keith stammered. He was taken off guard with how energetic Pidge apparently was.

"We're glad to have somebody new!" She exclaimed. She turned to a boy sitting nearby. "Was that good, Hunk?" Her voice had dropped all of the previous enthusiasm as she looked for guidance. The boy she had turned to- Hunk- was quite a bit bigger than Pidge, both in height and weight.

"You're doing great," he nodded with a polite smile. Keith wasn't sure what they were talking about, but he didn't bother asking. It seemed he was right in the assumption that everyone already had their own friend groups. Great. That would just make this fifty times harder than it had to be. Another boy who seemed to be about the same height as Hunk- although significantly skinnier- sprinted from the other side of the auditorium to where they were standing. Something about the boy irritated Keith from the moment he laid eyes on him. He found himself hoping the boy would trip during his short sprint, but unfortunately, no such luck.

"Did I hear something about a new kid?" His voice was energetic and laced with a clear excited energy. His excitement made Keith want to barf. Seriously, where was this sudden annoyance coming from? But then, Keith recognized him. Lance Mcclain. He was one of the most popular boys in Keith's class. Keith himself wasn't sure entirely why. He was decently attractive, but besides that he was nothing but average. Plus, from what Keith could gather, he was a bit of an airhead. Lance however, would disagree with that. He had the biggest ego Keith had ever seen. So Keith usually just avoided him. Clearly that wasn't going to be an option anymore.

“Oh yeah... Um... I’m new... Hi?” Keith said, unsure how introductions really worked. Social skills were never a strength for him. Especially when he had to deal with a guy that was annoying him for no clear reason whatsoever.

"Nice black eye, new kid," Lance said teasingly. Keith understood that was likely Lance's way of initiating a friendly conversation. Still, he couldn't help but feel a trickle of annoyance race down his spine. Keith looked down and let his hair fall into his face and over his eyes. He couldn't keep eye contact or he was going to punch this idiot in the jaw. Lance's face twisted into a frown. "Hey, wait a minute... I'd recognize that mullet anywhere!"

"Okay! Time to get started!" Shiro's voice cut in before Lance could finish his thought. Keith couldn't help but feel a wave of relief rush through him. Saved by the bell. Or, well, saved by the drama teacher? No, that just sounded geeky. "Everybody take a seat in the first couple of rows. It's been a long summer and I'd like to see all of your smiling faces again!" Some kids who were seated farther away grumbled in annoyance but moved up closer. They knew apparently as well as Keith that it was useless to argue with Shiro. After the kids changed seats to be up by the front, a wave of warmth passed through the drama teacher's expression. "Great! Now, I think we can get started." Shiro sat down at the edge of the stage on the apron and let his feet dangle off the front. "This year we're doing something a little different,” Shiro began.

Keith glanced around at the people sitting in the nearby seats, already bored out of his mind. He noticed that there were a few dozen students in the auditorium, and almost all of them were female. The only males he spotted were Lance and Hunk and three other guys that looked almost as bored as Keith. Was that normal? Keith didn't know anything about theater, but he assumed that more than a handful of boys were needed to put on most productions. _I guess Shiro wasn't kidding when he said they could use more boys,_ Keith thought. Shiro continued his opening speech, snapping Keith out of his thoughts. Right. He should probably be paying attention to this.

“This year, we are putting on an original musical! Our honors English students will write the script and our music students can write the music!” Shiro continued. The entire auditorium seemed to be pulsing with excitement. A blonde girl with her hair in two French braids raised her hand. Keith knew he'd seen her in some of his classes before. Hadn't that Lance kid been dumped by her a few years ago? Keith didn't really stay up to date on gossip. “Excuse me? Where will we get the funding for this?” The girl asked. She seemed curious and concerned.

“I’m glad you brought that up Nyma! The school’s GSA is donating the extra money from their recent fundraiser to the drama club to fund this show,” Shiro explained. “Since this is funded by the GSA, they’ve requested we raise awareness for the issues that LGBTQ+ youth face in their everyday lives.” Keith could tell Shiro was happy to supervise the drama students to aid the LGBTQ+ community. Shiro had been the president of the GSA when he was still in high school and had come out as gay. Now it made sense that he was guiding the theater department in embracing the topic as the only teacher on the staff who was openly gay. The students whispered among themselves. Everybody seemed to be radiating excitement. Everybody, except for one person. Keith watched as Lance sank down in his chair and avoided eye contact with everybody. Keith rolled his eyes. So gay people made him uncomfortable. If Keith didn't already have enough of a reason, he now had full intentions to avoid Lance as best as possible.

A couple minutes and several pathetic attempts from Shiro to regain the attention of his students later, 4:15 came and the first official meeting of the drama club that year came to a close. Nobody seemed to be in a real hurry to leave. It was weird to Keith how well everybody got along. Yeah, they had their cliques. That just came with high school. But unlike any normal clique, most people floated in between several groups. It was pretty rare for two people to not get along. However close everyone else felt was not rubbing off on Keith and he rushed in getting all of his belongings together. His plan was now to leave ASAP. Just because everyone else had their friend groups didn't mean that Keith did. He was the odd man out. Like always.

In his scramble to get out of the auditorium, he failed to watch where he was going. As he collided with a tall and bony figure, he fell backwards and the papers he was carrying due to lack of space in his backpack scattered across the floor. Keith could already feel himself getting a head ache. This year was clearly shaping up to be an absolute hell.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" Lance snapped bitterly. Apparently Keith was an excellent judge of character. This kid _was_ annoying. That annoyance from before crept up again.

"Well maybe you shouldn't stand in the middle of the fucking aisle,” Keith snapped back as he stood up. He was so angry at the guy, he was ready to storm off and leave all of his papers. Maybe he'd miss enough assignments and finally get expelled. At least then he wouldn't have to see this jerk at his brother's stupid drama club any more.

“What’s this? New guy’s got an attitude,” Lance snarked. Keith's skin was crawling with the want to punch this guy. His skin looked soft and clear like it had never seen a scratch in his life. _I could change that,_ Keith thought, rolling up his sleeves. Still, he held himself back by a thread. He didn't want to disappoint Shiro again. He knew that he couldn't beat up this prick, as much as he wanted to.

“Get out of my way,” Keith demanded. He clenched his fists against his sides and gritted his teeth to ignore the itch telling him to deck Lance. He was determined to not get in any more fist fights. Verbal fights, he couldn’t control. His mouth often moved faster than his brain. But fist fights were off the table. Still, Keith couldn't help but creep closer to Lance. The only thing in his mind was the urge to give Lance a matching black eye. He was scrawny so it wouldn't be hard to pin him and throw some repeated punches everywhere. If he could just- Apparently, Hunk was standing nearby. He had to have seen the clear hostility in Keith's expression and rushed over because before Keith knew what was happening, Hunk was between them and pushing them away from each other.

“Okay, okay. Break it up, guys,” he said in an oddly calming voice. Keith decided somewhere subconsciously that if he was going to make any friends here, Hunk would be a good choice. With how calm and collected he was with Keith's explosive temper, he'd probably be a good influence on him too. Hunk quickly turned his attention to the subject of Keith's current death glares. “Lance, if you want a ride home, I highly suggest you get your butt outside and in the car.” To Keith's absolute surprise, Lance listened to Hunk and went outside. Huh? Hunk had to be a miracle worker. Judging by how easily Lance had relented, the two of them had to be pretty close. Hunk helped Keith pick up the scattered papers and they went their separate ways without another word.

Without much else to do, Keith found himself outside in the parking lot. Once he found Shiro's car in the teacher's lot, he got in and pulled out his phone. He slipped his ear buds in and navigated through his phone's playlists until he settled on his most recent one. He was humming along to Girls/Girls/Boys by Panic! at the Disco when Shiro got into the car and started driving them home. Keith hadn't even noticed Shiro enter the car. How out of it had his little fight made him? He took out one ear buds, knowing that Shiro wouldn't stay silent for long.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" He asked, nudging Keith in his side like the annoying father figure he was. Keith bit back his reply. _You're right. It was awful and the next time, I probably won't be able to stop myself from killing that Lance kid._ Knowing that wasn't the answer Shiro was looking for, Keith chose to keep quiet. Instead, he hummed in response. "Don't feel like talking?" Shiro asked. There was so much sympathy in his tone, Keith had to force back the urge to smile in order to reassure him. Shiro was the only person who had cared about Keith ever. Still, Keith was angry and he didn't want to accidentally blow up and yell at his brother. This wasn't his fault. Keith shouldn't have fought that last kid to begin with. Keith shook his head in response to his question. After what felt like an eternity of silence, Shiro pulled into the subdivision and they both got out of the car.

They didn't say another word to each other as they walked up to the house, nor as they entered. Keith hid out in his room for the rest of the night. He really didn’t feel like talking. He couldn't help but feel like this was the beginning to a chapter in his life that he really could have lived without.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We’re aiming to upload a chapter weekly. Will that happen? Probably not. But we’ll sure as hell try.


End file.
